Dry My Tears and Move On

So St Louis fell through. I won't bother with the details, but rest assured, it is a painful story filled with heartache, betrayal, deception, and ravenous hammerhead sharks.

OK, so I'm exaggerating. I have to keep it light - it's that or brood over the fact that my safety net has abruptly been yanked away. There are still some bitter feelings, to be sure, but on the whole I'm trying not to dwell on it.

Instead I am refocusing my efforts on finding a new job. At this point I'm looking at waitressing, something to at least give me some hours (as opposed to my current job where I am averaging...oh, 8 hours a week) and money until full-time jobs start coming back. I'm also planning to do some cold calling in the Chicago area, as I will be spending some time there later this month to do some Moxie-sitting. (I plan to teach her that before I leave. I checked out The Idiot's Guide to Dog Tricks, and everything.)

In the meantime, Ben and I are getting by, mostly by our weekly bowling night to keep us sane. The bowling alley near us has $2 Tuesdays, plus a student discount (and luckily my Cornell ID does not have a date on it, heh), so we can rent shoes and bowl 4 games each for only $15! We are slooooowly getting better - actually the very last game we played, Ben got a turkey (3 strikes in a row). I bet he could give Diana a run for her money.

My Poor Brain

I am very stressed out.

Because of the economy, and retail struggling as a whole, my hours have been cut down to...oh, about 2 shifts per week.  Since there is essentially no work to be found in Michigan, I am obliged to relocate to the St Louis area, to work for my uncle.  I resisted this idea for a long time, naively hoping that I could find a decent full-time job here.  

But I am in debt up to my eyeballs, so that kind of sucked the life out of my negotiating skills.

I've now accepted the fact that I'm moving, as soon as my dad works out the details with my uncle.  Actually, there are many aspects of this I'm looking forward to.

Obviously, moving away from Ben is not one of them.  My hope is that I will have saved up enough money by the end of the summer to get an apartment, and that he can come down and stay with me for a few months until...he leaves for the Navy.

We had both toyed with the idea of joining the military for some months now.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a lover not a fighter...but the idea of good health insurance, cheap car insurance, and the bulk of my student loans paid off was becoming increasingly tempting.  

Ultimately I decided that I'm too much of a wimp to make it through boot camp, and Ben was rather insistent that he should be the one to go if one of us joined.  And my mom said I'm too cute for the Army.  We had kind of set the idea aside for awhile, but as our finances shrank, Ben went to see the Navy recruiter.  He just had his physical earlier this week, and is officially signed up.

To be honest, I don't think it's hit me yet.  When he first decided that he was definitely going to sign up, I got excited and started looking at 'I Love My Sailor' t-shirts, and Navy car magnets.  Then when he actually signed the paperwork, my excitement dwindled.  I think for a time I was more enamored with the *idea* of him joining the Navy, rather than what his enlistment truly meant.  

That's not to say that this wasn't a joint decision that we discussed at length - it was - but of course I couldn't have any idea how I was going to feel when things actually were in motion.  I don't have anything to compare this to.  He plans to become a Navy diver, so at least there's not a large demand in Iraq or Afghanistan...but I'm still going to be worried.  I know this will be a good experience for him, if for no other reason than it gives him the funds to be able to complete his bachelor's (his parents have refused to cosign on any more student loans).

Well, here's hoping.  And Semper Fi...no, wait, that's the Marines.  Does the Navy even have a motto?  I have no idea - Ben's factbook doesn't say, though interestingly enough it does have the lyrics to 'Anchors Aweigh'.  Heh.

Finger Lickin' Good

Ben & I were watching Jackass 2.5 the other night (confession time - even though I wouldn't do about 99.9% of the things they do on that show, I do enjoy watching it) and we saw Stevo drink beer poured down the, oh, let's say...4 foot fingernails of a man in India.  

Let me repeat that: Four. Foot. Fingernails.

They were green, and slimy in appearance.  The thumbnail curled back in on itself, much like a watch spring, only attached to your hand.  The other nails extended nearly to the ground, twisting like some sort of nasty fingernail linguine.  The man protected his nails in a burlap-type sack, presumably to keep them from cracking.  

After getting over the grossness of drinking beer off someone's fingernails (anyone's fingernails, no matter what length...ew. Just the idea of biting my own nails is icky.), Ben & I contemplated the difficulty of carrying around such a weight.  I mean, that's got to be a considerable strain on the arm and hand, since it didn't look like he could fully relax his arm without having the nails crunch on the floor (*shuddering at visual image*).  How would you dress yourself?  Or shower?  Or sleep?  It seems like way too much inconvenience, for no real reason.

Whatever Gets You Through Today

I have been failing rather spectacularly at keeping my blog resolution...so in the spirit of optimism and general not-giving-up...ness...here is a meme-type thing appropriated from a friend's facebook:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you.  At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.  You have to tag the person who tagged you.  If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(A note here - since this originally came from facebook, 25 people is nothing there. But I don't even follow 25 blogs, so I'm going to open this up to whomever is interested, quite possibly no one.  And please don't feel required to tag me back - wouldn't that just result in a never-ending cycle of 25 facts, tagging, being tagged, 25 facts, etc?)

1. I am very probably moving to the St. Louis area within the next month or so.

2. This does not bother me as much as it once did.

3. In 5th grade, I wanted to play the saxophone like Lisa Simpson.  My parents argued that sticks were cheaper, so I played the drums instead.

4. I have been a vegetarian at two points in my life.  Sometimes when I have a mouthful of meat, my brain will say 'this is flesh' and I'll feel incredibly grossed out.

5. I love love loooooove country music.  I am the only one in my family who does.

6. My boyfriend is joining the Navy.  I have never been more proud/terrified in my life.

7. I hate when people bite their silverware.

8. I was not directly affected by the events of 9/11, but to this day I cannot see any footage of it without crying.

9. I prefer Cherry Coke to regular.

10. I would love to teach children about the environment.

11. If I had to be homeless, I would want to live in Hawaii.  Their homeless people live on the beach.

12. I would love to get a book published, but I fear I haven't anything interesting to say.  At least not enough to fill a book.

13. I have read Bill Bryson's A Walk In The Woods probably 10 times or more.

14. The only book I may have read more frequently is Where the Red Fern Grows.

15. In kindergarten, I wanted to be a construction worker on the moon.

16. I believe that wish helped me get into Cornell.  I referenced it in an application essay.

17. I have never broken a bone.  I have fractured my skull, and sprained my wrist, ankle and thumb.

18. I enjoy giving blood.

19. I once had a cell phone embedded into a dirt road by a minivan.

20. I plan to expand on my tattoo once I get the money. (sorry, Mom)

21. I have been to France twice.

22. If I could travel anywhere in the world, it would either be Ireland or Australia.

23. I am a youth group leader at a Catholic church.

24. If Obama had lost the election, I would be living in Canada right now.

25. I can't listen to Ted Leo and the Pharmacists' "Me and Mia" without dancing.

The New Year

Well folks, here it is - 2009.

And while I may still be the quasi-only-working-part-time Unemployed Cornellian, I have a very good feeling about this year, and not just because of inauguration day.

As such, here are my New Year's Resolutions:

-  get a full-time job before my birthday (day after Valentine's, for those who don't know)

- learn to drive a stick

- take Jack to obedience school (he's well-behaved on the whole, but we need him to listen enough to not knock over visitors)

- learn yoga

- exercise at least 5 times a week (combination of running, yoga, and hopefully eventually a gym membership at the Troy Community Centre)

- learn how to knit

- cook more, and try new dishes

- blog more! (...ok, you ought to have seen that one coming)

Happy New Year everyone!

There's A Class For This

Famous People I Have Met*

- Bob Saget

- DeForest Kelley

- Sylvester McCoy

- Mo Rocca

- Mary Lynn Rajskub

- Dustin Diamond

- Bill Nye the Science Guy

*spoken to/took a picture with/stalked by/got an autograph from/was hit on by

Famous People I Have Seen

- Margaret Cho

- Mitch Albom

- John Cleese

- Chris Carrabba

- Jon Stewart

- Brent Spiner (yes, seriously)

- Justin Berfield

- Janet Reno

There might be more - there are probably more - so I'll add to the list as I remember them.  It's just a list I'd thought of compiling the other day, just for fun.  And yes, I know, not all of you necessarily consider all of these people to be 'famous'.  But hey, I've never exactly lived in an area (southeast MI, central NY, suburban Chicago) where celebrities flock, so I'll take what I can get.

And yes Frank, I know, I'm not as cool as you cause I haven't met Jim Gaffigan yet.  But I will.  So there.

We Were Sad But Now We're Rebuilding

OK, I know, I know...keeping up with my blog = EPIC FAIL

I'm sorry.

But it seems like every Joe Sixpack and Jane Winebox is putting in their two cents about the election, so I thought I'd do the same. (On a side note, Joe & Jane kind of remind me of those joke book titles that I heard as a kid, in Boys' Life and Highlights...You Can Be A Millionaire by Rob A. Bank, How To Skydive by Hugo First...I'm A Real American by Joe Siskpak. But I digress.)

I had always been an Obama supporter, though for the most part I didn't have anything against McCain. Until Sarah Palin showed up on the scene. (On another side note, while I thoroughly enjoyed Tina Fey's impersonations, I'm very much relieved that we won't need her to do it again.)



The night before the election, I was so keyed up that I had trouble falling asleep. When I did, I dreamt that McCain won the election in an upset, and there was footage on CNN of Sarah Palin laughing maniacally. I woke up, panicked, and shook Ben awake.

"Hey!"

"ajaklrng...."

"HEY!"

"...what?"

"What day is it?"

"um, Tuesday...."

"OK, wait...is Tuesday just starting or has it ended?"

"What?"

"Who won the election?"

"...what?"

"Who won the election??"

"It's 4 in the morning...the polls aren't even open yet...."

"Oh, ok. Sorry. Go back to sleep."


I awoke for the second time a few hours later, ready for the day to start. But since I had to wait for the polls to start closing before I could get any results, I spent most of the day job hunting on the computer. At 4, Ben and I left for the Obama Campaign for Change centre in Birmingham (MI, that is) to help canvass the neighbourhood. We spent the better part of 3 hours knocking on doors - with a quick break for dinner at Olga's - following up with supporters to see if they had voted yet. Quite a few people weren't home, and if Ben hadn't been with me, and if it hadn't been in Birmingham, I would have been very nervous with the sudden onset of darkness and utter lack of streetlights. But the evening passed uneventfully (though we did see roughly 258905 cats wandering the streets, and I briefly toyed with the idea of switching lawn signs and giving a McCain supporter an Obama sign, giving the Obama supporter one of each) and we went back home to wait for some incoming results. We started watching ABC (because I loooooove George Stephanopoulous - and I apologize if I butchered the spelling) and became increasingly excited as Obama's numbers grew. At 10 we switched over to Comedy Central for their special with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. It was funny, though somewhat disappointing as they were giving results we had already heard on ABC (I ended up going to abc.com and obsessively refreshing the page). Then Jon Stewart said those unforgettable words:

"As of 11:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, the next President of the United States will be Barack Obama."

I started jumping up and down and hugged Ben. Jack, thinking it was a game, tried to squeeze in between us and then started chasing his tail in a bizzarre victory dance.

The rest of the night will live forever in my memory. I gave Jack a celebratory cooky that I had bought from a dog bakery at Great Lakes Crossing Mall, talked on the phone with Spenser during McCain's concession speech (which, I must say...I feel sorry for him. I know, I know, he's a Republican, he supported the war, blah blah blah...I still feel sorry for him and wish him the best. Sarah Palin can go kiss a moose.), and then listened with rapt attention to Obama's victory speech and wished so much that we were in Grant Park. Obama gives me a sense of hope and optimism that has been rare for me since I have been out of a full-time job. I know he has a long uphill climb in front of him, but I believe he can draw America together so we can help eachother get out of this mess we've been swamped in.
And I know one thing's for sure - come January 20th, I have *every* intention of being in Washington DC.